In Tenafly, the departure of a passionate - often dissenting - voice on public affairs

By DEENA YELLIN

STAFF WRITER |

Wire Service

TENAFLY — During three years on the Borough Council, Republican Barry Honig was often at odds with Mayor Peter Rustin on political issues and the sole dissenting vote on various decisions. He departs the council today, and in addition to his passionate arguments on community issues, Honig leaves behind accomplishments all the more notable because he is blind.

His résumé includes being the first blind person to attend the Bronx High School of Science. He then studied at Cornell and Columbia universities. An entrepreneur who owns an international business, he was appointed by Governor Christie to the New Jersey Israel Commission and is a past member of the National Board of Directors of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. He also served on the board of directors of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, and he was the host of a weekly political talk-radio show, "The Blind Truth."

On local issues, he was a proponent of a referendum on the Tenafly Nature Center expansion, a strong opponent of a light-rail proposal in the borough, and a stickler about saving taxpayer money. Honig also began a website devoted to taping council meetings because, he said, the mayor didn't want the meetings aired on cable television. He was the top vote-getter in 2010 when he won his council seat on a platform of quality-of-life issues and light-rail opposition, but he lost a recent school board election and failed in a bid for the mayoralty against Rustin in 2011.

Honig's penchant for expressing his thoughts in public occasionally put him in hot water with colleagues. In 2012, for instance, the council censured him for "lacking in common decency" for calling a fellow council member's employer while questioning whether the council member's public office violated the colleague's employment agreement.

The father of three says he plans to remain active in the community and offered the following parting views in an interview with The Record.

Q. Now that you are departing the council after a three-year tenure, what do you consider your greatest accomplishment as councilman?

Turning around Borough Hall's attitude about spending money — that is, [about] raising taxes, and reforming how we pay our employees. When I joined the council in 2011, the previous council had raised taxes by 7.9 percent. Tenafly had been suffering under 5-percent-plus tax increases for many years. In contrast to this profligate spending, in 2011 we only raised taxes by 0.5 percent In 2012, we raised them by 0.9 percent and in 2013, by 1.4 percent. In other words, over my three years in office, the total tax increase was nearly one-third of what it was in 2010 alone, when I wasn't on the council.

Q. You have been critical of the Business Improvement District in the past. What are your recommendations for the Tenafly BID?

I have always supported improving the downtown and have suggested several ways to do it, including penalizing landlords for not upgrading and properly maintaining their properties, while incentivizing them through property tax relief to improve the look of their buildings and to offer competitive rents in order to attract more businesses. What I opposed was the previous director of the BID, who charged us a lot of money for doing nothing. I fully support our new BID board and have been asked to — and I will — serve on it, as the council's representative.

Q. The Tenafly Nature Center has been a subject of great controversy in the borough and you have been among those calling for a referendum. Where would you like to see the TNC build a new center and how would you like to see it done?

I have been very vocal about supporting the new education center, but based on the 1,500 or so petition signatures requesting a referendum, I realized that the people in the town really want to be heard on this issue. I suggested that a referendum be held, provided that the interpretive statement reflects all of the facts about the case: drainage issues, costs, future impact to the Lost Brook Preserve, etc. I also insisted that both sides agree to respect the results of the referendum. I have, in fact, volunteered to chair the committee that would craft the interpretive statement.

Q. You were a supporter of special-needs housing in the borough, but at the same time you had many reservations about the United Way Housing project. Where would you like to see that go at this point?

I'm very much a supporter of special-needs housing in the town and supported the original plan that we were given that would have had us buy the 311 Tenafly Road property, that would have had us put it in a 501c3 [non-profit entity], called Tenafly Housing Inc. and have the board of that entity be comprised of interested members of the community, representatives of the [mayor and council] and representatives from the agency that would manage the property for us. In this way, the taxpayers and concerned residents of the town would have a voice in how the facility is managed and that there would be proper oversight. … Most importantly, such a board would ensure that children of Tenafly residents would be given first preference in terms of living in the facility, which I don't believe will now be the case. As for the agency that should run the property … [Mayor] Peter Rustin jammed through United Way and jammed through the deal that gave this $1 million property to a for-profit group with few strings attached and outside of the reach or supervision of the borough or residents.

Q. The council recently opted to spend open space funds on helping the Board of Education put up lights and purchase artificial turf for Geissinger Field. You were opposed to this plan. What would you like to see happen with Geissinger Field?

I was the councilman that pushed the resolution through at the beginning of 2013 to move this project along, as it had been stalled in committee. I support lighting and turfing the field, I don't support using open-space funds to do it though. We have limited open-space funds and can't raise the money so easily again to build up the reserve. The Board of Education could fund the entire project themselves, if we were willing to do the project in two phases: first lighting, and then turf.

In Tenafly, the departure of a passionate - often dissenting - voice on public affairs

By DEENA YELLIN

STAFF WRITER |

Wire Service

TENAFLY — During three years on the Borough Council, Republican Barry Honig was often at odds with Mayor Peter Rustin on political issues and the sole dissenting vote on various decisions. He departs the council today, and in addition to his passionate arguments on community issues, Honig leaves behind accomplishments all the more notable because he is blind.

His résumé includes being the first blind person to attend the Bronx High School of Science. He then studied at Cornell and Columbia universities. An entrepreneur who owns an international business, he was appointed by Governor Christie to the New Jersey Israel Commission and is a past member of the National Board of Directors of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. He also served on the board of directors of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, and he was the host of a weekly political talk-radio show, "The Blind Truth."

On local issues, he was a proponent of a referendum on the Tenafly Nature Center expansion, a strong opponent of a light-rail proposal in the borough, and a stickler about saving taxpayer money. Honig also began a website devoted to taping council meetings because, he said, the mayor didn't want the meetings aired on cable television. He was the top vote-getter in 2010 when he won his council seat on a platform of quality-of-life issues and light-rail opposition, but he lost a recent school board election and failed in a bid for the mayoralty against Rustin in 2011.

Honig's penchant for expressing his thoughts in public occasionally put him in hot water with colleagues. In 2012, for instance, the council censured him for "lacking in common decency" for calling a fellow council member's employer while questioning whether the council member's public office violated the colleague's employment agreement.

The father of three says he plans to remain active in the community and offered the following parting views in an interview with The Record.

Q. Now that you are departing the council after a three-year tenure, what do you consider your greatest accomplishment as councilman?

Turning around Borough Hall's attitude about spending money — that is, [about] raising taxes, and reforming how we pay our employees. When I joined the council in 2011, the previous council had raised taxes by 7.9 percent. Tenafly had been suffering under 5-percent-plus tax increases for many years. In contrast to this profligate spending, in 2011 we only raised taxes by 0.5 percent In 2012, we raised them by 0.9 percent and in 2013, by 1.4 percent. In other words, over my three years in office, the total tax increase was nearly one-third of what it was in 2010 alone, when I wasn't on the council.

Q. You have been critical of the Business Improvement District in the past. What are your recommendations for the Tenafly BID?

I have always supported improving the downtown and have suggested several ways to do it, including penalizing landlords for not upgrading and properly maintaining their properties, while incentivizing them through property tax relief to improve the look of their buildings and to offer competitive rents in order to attract more businesses. What I opposed was the previous director of the BID, who charged us a lot of money for doing nothing. I fully support our new BID board and have been asked to — and I will — serve on it, as the council's representative.

Q. The Tenafly Nature Center has been a subject of great controversy in the borough and you have been among those calling for a referendum. Where would you like to see the TNC build a new center and how would you like to see it done?

I have been very vocal about supporting the new education center, but based on the 1,500 or so petition signatures requesting a referendum, I realized that the people in the town really want to be heard on this issue. I suggested that a referendum be held, provided that the interpretive statement reflects all of the facts about the case: drainage issues, costs, future impact to the Lost Brook Preserve, etc. I also insisted that both sides agree to respect the results of the referendum. I have, in fact, volunteered to chair the committee that would craft the interpretive statement.

Q. You were a supporter of special-needs housing in the borough, but at the same time you had many reservations about the United Way Housing project. Where would you like to see that go at this point?

I'm very much a supporter of special-needs housing in the town and supported the original plan that we were given that would have had us buy the 311 Tenafly Road property, that would have had us put it in a 501c3 [non-profit entity], called Tenafly Housing Inc. and have the board of that entity be comprised of interested members of the community, representatives of the [mayor and council] and representatives from the agency that would manage the property for us. In this way, the taxpayers and concerned residents of the town would have a voice in how the facility is managed and that there would be proper oversight. … Most importantly, such a board would ensure that children of Tenafly residents would be given first preference in terms of living in the facility, which I don't believe will now be the case. As for the agency that should run the property … [Mayor] Peter Rustin jammed through United Way and jammed through the deal that gave this $1 million property to a for-profit group with few strings attached and outside of the reach or supervision of the borough or residents.

Q. The council recently opted to spend open space funds on helping the Board of Education put up lights and purchase artificial turf for Geissinger Field. You were opposed to this plan. What would you like to see happen with Geissinger Field?

I was the councilman that pushed the resolution through at the beginning of 2013 to move this project along, as it had been stalled in committee. I support lighting and turfing the field, I don't support using open-space funds to do it though. We have limited open-space funds and can't raise the money so easily again to build up the reserve. The Board of Education could fund the entire project themselves, if we were willing to do the project in two phases: first lighting, and then turf.